Junior and Pony Issue Junior Gallery - The Chronicle of ... · Junior Gallery Junior and Pony Issue My Man Midas by Emma Calebrese-Age 11-8 The Chronicle of the Horse Olivia Smock

Junior Gal leryJunior and Pony Issue

My Man Midasby Emma Calebrese

-Age 11-

8 w w w . c h r o n o f h o r s e . c o m T h e C h r o n i c l e o f t h e H o r s e

Olivia Smock -Age 8-

Junior Gal lery

Sometimes I feel like making a frown,But I know that Midas will never let me down.There’s not another pony so much better and grand,Midas is there for me because he’s my man.We have won champion two years in a row,He will be my man forever and that’s what I’ll always know.You can look and you can try,But you will never find a more beautiful eye.The time has come and this is all I need,He has done us all a great deed,I hope to lease and not to sell,But what can I say, he’s just so swell.If it wasn’t for him right now,I would be dead without a doubt.He’s the best friend I’ll ever need,He’s my man, my man indeed.He’s taught me so much and I don’t want him to go,But he’s my man and that’s what I’ll always know.

ClaireKearney -Age 13-Charlotte Lemke -Age 6-

F r i d a y, M a y 1 9 , 2 0 0 6 w w w . c h r o n o f h o r s e . c o m 9

Junior and Pony Issue

Geneva Boliek-Poling -Age 11-

Bailey Cone -Age 17-

I am from baby pads, bump pads, no slip pads and beyond.I am from GPAs and Charles OwensGrand Prixs and Vogels.Toulouse to TiddlywinksIngénue to Out Of The BlueRockport to Yes I Am.

I am from “lower leg back” and “what are you running at?”I am from heels down and fingers closed.From “get a tiger in your tank.”

I am from blue, red and yellow,Red, yellow, and white.The sashThe cheering.

I am from the MCI CenterThe Virginia Horse CenterPost Time Farm.

I am from the music, which rushes through my head.The pressureThe praying.

I am from spots, to chestnut and gray.From Winkiebear to BubbleishusFrom Romey to my dear sweet Pooh Bear.

I am from Stoneridge FarmMy friends and familyBut mostly, I am from me.

I Am Fromby Anna Rossi

-Age 11-

Jenna Boillotat -Age 11- Sydney Coldren -Age 6-Annelise Rayburn -Age 7-


Kailyn Weinberg -Age 9-

It’s All About Loveby Nina Theofiles

-Age 18-

As my years as a junior come to a close, Ireflect back on what riding has given me. Althoughlots of juniors get caught up in gaining a lengthyshow record and pricy clothes, I’m fortunate tohave learned on what I consider to be some ofthe best horses and schoolmasters ever to exist.

And I’m fortunate to have a patient, fun-loving,compassionate, and educated trainer to stick withme in times when I just don’t get it. I couldn’t askfor more wonderful parents to support me, and avery first horse to carry me into my adult years.

Being a junior gives license for crazy behavior,but also unbreakable bonds are made. Bonds withhorse show secretaries, with friends from the barnand shows, with trainers, with older/wiser riders,with vets, with farriers, and of course, the mostbrilliant bond with your horse.These bonds incombination with all the responsibilities equalsuch knowledge and discipline, that ridingbecomes more like a lifestyle than a sport.

Riding helps juniors make the transition intoadulthood, as difficult as it is. Juniors as well asadults, be it professional or amateur, seek horses,seek riding, because of how much one can gainfrom it. It’s because of all the feelings andmoments that riding is wonderful; blue ribbonsand awards are just bonuses.

It’s the unexplainable feeling of your horsejumping up to you, really snapping his knees up.It’s the feeling of love when playful squeals ordeep knickers are heard fluttering through thebarn. It’s laughing at yourself when you mess up.It’s all of these things that have made me loveriding throughout the years. It’s these things thatmake up a beautiful relationship between juniorsand riding.

I’m not afraid to admit the countlessmoments I’ve spent just staring at my horse, real-izing that at the end of the day what is mostimportant is that you love what you’re doing. Mymom always seems to tactfully say,“There’s toomuch money being put into this for you not tohave fun!” So that usually helps remind me not totake everything so seriously, as everyone can getinto a habit of doing.

Horses that teach you throughout the yearsbecome old friends, and new horses are like start-ing a brand new friendship. Juniors, jugglingschoolwork, jobs and countless other things,should love riding for the break it gives them.When I feel like the whole world is going wrong,and I need a moment to collect myself, there is nobetter place than the barn. Sometimes getting onbareback and walking through the rolling hills orjust basking in the sun, is when I feel I can reallybreathe. Juniors grow to love the smell of leather,hay, and of course the unique smell each horsecarries with him.

Juniors admire the adults for their ability tosupport themselves financially while adults

admire juniors for galloping up to the hairiestlooking fence they’ve ever seen. Learning is partof riding; learning from everything around you.

In riding, juniors are able to find a love forlearning as well. Juniors can find that, althoughchemistry and trigonometry lack any excitement,the physics behind jumping a downhill horse toan uphill fence will be fascinating. Understandingsupplements and measuring distances becomes anew form of learning and carried the junior into anew field of education, when all of a sudden theyunderstand why vitamins and minerals are soimportant.

I urge riders to realize how fortunate theyare, give their horse a big hug, and sleep wellknowing that you are doing what you love!

Laura Kosiorek -Age 15-

Brenna Weems -Age 8-


Just One Lookby Adele Norton

-Age 12-



My horse is goodMy horse is greatMy horse will winMy horse will always place

But my horse will nickerWhen I open his doorBut my horse will lick my handsWhen I offer him some more

He’d jump the moonHe’d jump the starsHe would evenJump Mars!

His coat shines like a new pennyHis brown eyes twinkle in the lightHe arches his neck with prideHe flies with the weightlessness of a kite

He thinks he’s hot stuffAnd acts like it tooEspecially when he’s Fighting over food

He listens to my problems Best as he canThen he sets me straightBy pushing me on my fan

He likes to winBut he’s a better sport than I am—He knows how to loseI guess it comes from his dam

All the braiders love himThe judges know him too—His siblings are seen at every showAnd they certainly are not jumping low

A year of riding him has comeThe past is filled with gloriesAnd now we’re ready for the futureThe juniors are going to be fun!

Thank you WillyI knew you’d be great from the startJust One Look was all it tookTo put you in my heart.

Juliana Petrillo -Age 8-

Brendan Martyn -Age 8-



Moving Forwardby Christine Ricard

-Age 11-

Keep your heels down,Hands steady,

Chin up,Legs ready.

Stay on top,Balanced,

In control.

Don’t sag,Drag,

Or Lag around.

Squeeze with your legs,Urge with your mind,

Give with your reins,Soar with your heart.

Fly with your horse.

In JumpingYou Must…

by Caroline Resor-Age 11-

Moving forwardHeart beating fastWhatever we doThis moment won’t last

Wind blowing against usBrushing our facesWatching wide-eyedFor all new places.

Moving as one,Girl and horseWhen working togetherWe have a strong force.

With fur soft as velvet,Mane the color of goldIt’s such a strong bondIt never gets old.

The ground underneath usIt’s just a big blurWe’re galloping fastThat’s for sure.

Our ride is ending,The sadness like a blanket100 feet to the barnThe moment will not make it.

Moving forwardHearts beating fastWhatever we do,This moment won’t last.

Madeline Backus -Age 10-

Kelly Tropin -Age 10-

Annelise Rayburn -Age 7-


Clancy Farrand -Age 8-


In The Horse WorldBy Claire Dunnigan

-Age 14-

I guess it’s the feeling I get every morningwhen I wake up. At my first glance I look straightinto the eyes of one of the Breyer Horses that arestabled in my room. Before I even go downstairs, Isee Pony Club ribbons hanging on my wall. It is aknown fact that adults need coffee in the morning,but my pick-me-up is standing outside smellingthe crisp air full of hay and Earth. People in thehorse world will understand.

By 7:40 a.m., I’m sitting in a hard chair listening on how to improve grammar in my language arts class; or so my teacher thinks. Inreality, I am cruising through countless memoriesof dusty rings, wooded trails, and oh yes, mudpuddles! I journey into another world, wonderingif the weather will hold up long enough to rideafter school.

No matter how hard I try, the bell signalingthat first hour has ended catches me off guard,and I jump up thinking the clock has started in ashow jumping round! You guessed it! I’m horsecrazy.

As the rest of my school day passes by, it’s nouse trying to converse to peers in horse terms,only English (not riding) will do for them. Some

days I feel the only friends that I need are AnnaSewell, Walter Farley and Laura Hillenbrand.Theywould love discussing equines, stamina andpeppermints.

It’s by 2:40 p.m., that my day really starts. It’swatching the school bus pull away from my drive-way that counts. I’m finally home for the day andready to ride. I have to admit we have quite acolorful barnyard. Bays, grays, chestnuts and anAppaloosa make up the wallpaper of our field. Mymom greets me, and we select our mounts. Nomatter if it’s the noble Arab, trusty Connemara,handsome Trakehner or dumpy Haflinger, weknow it will be a great ride! Uncovering myCourbette, and stuffing treats in my pocket, webegin to tack up. Pushing open the rusty barndoor, we head out on an adventure.

In my experiences of riding, every ride seemsto create a new page of the many chapters ofhorsemanship. Being able to race through thewoods with an animal you trust, and a familymember you love is what riding is all about. Iespecially love the weekend rides where mymom, dad, brother and random friends come outand join us. No radio station or CD can competewith the sound of hooves beating on the ground,or the yelling of “Tally Ho!”

Riding for fun helps me clear my mind aswell as practice for competitions.You can add ahunt coat or shadbelly, but what lies underneathwill always be the connection between horse andrider moving as one without a care in the world!There will always be time and classes to learnforeign languages, but I will remain bilingual,fluent both in the English language and theunwritten diction of horses.

Brianna Keesler -Age 8-

Caroline Houston -Age 7-

Amanda Ko -Age 10-



Emma Lemke -Age 7-

Libby was not only my first horse, she was my best friend.Theone you could trust and count on to take you anywhere, and be theone to show you the way back home when you got lost or when shefelt it was time for her dinner.

Like too many of these stories go, Libby was severely abused andneglected at a summer camp, of course was shy around men, andpicked one person to truly love. I had the great fortune of being thatperson.

I met Libby on July 4, 2002, when I had just moved to the areaand a friend said they had someone special for me to meet.What Isaw was the prettiest little flaxen liver chestnut mare I had ever seen.To a lot of people she was just a shaggy looking, old mare with, atthe time, seemingly no talent. As the weeks and months went by,she turned out to be the best jumper I had ever ridden.

At the height of her game with me, we did training level stadium courses.But one crisp spring day, she managed to clear a triple board fence in aturnout sheet and gallop across the backyard, to my Mom’s great surprise.

As the queen of the barn, she was always fed first, pampered most, heldthe best stall, and had the most treats. She was very polite about this powershe held, but was, of course, very opinionated.When she did not want to dosomething, she generally made that known. She also had the uncanny talentfor detecting the smallest traces of foul-tasting medicine in her food, andliked to keep me thinking up ways to mask these things. (Her favorite wasmolasses).

Libby was possibly the best trail horse in the world. She had the fastestwalk that she could keep up for hours, even though her favorite thing to do

was gallop (and I wasn’t complaining). She was usually the first one to findme safely back home when I got spooked out in the woods. Like the day I lether stop to scratch and looked to my left and found myself peering into alarge doorway that I later found out to be a bomb shelter built in the ‘70s.But I still won’t go down there. Or perhaps the day I simply thought thesound of motors was coming from the nearby Hanaford warehouse, but itturned out to be a heavily loaded logging truck slipping and sliding its waydown the steep hill toward us. (I don’t actually think they ever saw me).There were numerous other incidences where she galloped home at mybidding; me scared by my own shadow again.

I raced her twice.The first happened to be the first and last time shereally bucked, but we won anyway, and the secondshe made my eventing horse eat dirt. Lots of it.

There are many different, little idiosyncrasiesabout Libby that most people would not under-stand. For instance, her winter coat that felt likemink, her wonderfully horsy smell, or the littlebits of steam blowing out her nostrils on a coldfall morning when she gave that soft nicker.

Even though her heart attack was unex-pected and tragic, it was better than watching herwithering away over many years. I know that shedied with a flame in her heart and a spark in hereye. She died right alongside the only mare shewas truly friends with, Brandy.

Every time we pull up to the house, I still lookat her stall thinking I’d see her little muzzle pokingout between the bars on her window, just toinvestigate. I think about her every day, and willnever stop missing her. In a way, though, she stilllives on in my heart and in all of my horses, asthey now bear her name and the name of a farmshe helped to establish, Liberty Farm.Darby Wright -Age 8-

Miss Liberty“Libby”

by Claudia Romeo



My Horseby Alicia Pickett-Hale

-Age 18-

What makes the perfect horse?Each is unique and none the sameThis would be my horse, the one for meHis eyes would be stars, glittering and brightHis nose would feel like velvet, soft and trueHis teeth would be seashells, glistening whiteHis mane would be thunderclouds, drifting and flowingHis coat would shine like the sun, brilliant and unmarkedHis hooves would be obsidian rock, dark and hardHis legs would be reeds, slender and strongHis tail would be a stream, rippling and wavyHe would move with the wind, never to be taken for grantedHe would be my protector, my companion, my friendThis would be my horse, the one for meLet your heart make your own, let it set you free.

Henson Milam -Age 8-

Ruby Williams -Age 7-

CarrieLemke-Age 11-

Stephanie Sydlo -Age 14-

Caroline Fountain -Age 10-

Ann Charity Daly -Age 7-



The Hunting Fieldby Sarah Goshen

--Age 12--

Leaping over logs,Dashing up hills,Foxhunting gives you great thrills.Pushing open gates,Falling into ponds,Leave it! It’s only a fawn.Time to go home,Don’t stay in the back alone.We see the bushes rustle.There they go, galloping again.Feeling like we’re flying like a bird,

As we reach the top,We see the staff.They may look funny,But try not to laugh.Pay attention; don’t be rude,Say thank you.We go through valleys,Around a bush,We see hounds.The fox has gone to ground!

MargrettaWillemin-Age 13-

Erin Riley -Age 13-Elizabeth Houston -Age 12-

Cara Sunberg -Age 13-



Partner Danceby Marissa Messina

-Age 12-

The dance is starting.We enter the ring.He picks up the canter.The first fence is getting closer.We jump it with ease.The second is extra wide.Coiled power explodes over the jump.We land effortlessly on the off side.The line is next,Three steps, a jump,Three more steps, another jump.Now the line with six in between.Our jump in is clean,Graceful and arching,Six fluid strides,Now pressing across the oxer.A long approach to the last jump.This is it.Now we’re only three steps away,Two, one,We’re over it.We trot to the gate,And exit the ring.The score is called.It is an 86.We lead the class,Throughout the next 17 ponies.We stay on top,Then it is all over.We’ve won the class.We jog into the ring,To accept the blue ribbon.And the crowd is deafening.The dance is over.

AnneWalker -Age 14-

Kelly Young -Age 18-Courtney Schwabauer -Age 9-

DougMasters-Age 14-

Junior and Pony Issue Junior Gallery - The Chronicle of ... · Junior Gallery Junior and Pony Issue My Man Midas by Emma Calebrese-Age 11-8 The Chronicle of the Horse Olivia Smock

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